Later & Later
by Killer Mike's Biggest Fan
Summary: DISCLAIMER: I own everyone you don't know. It's hard to face the clock when it seems its not moving, unitl you find yoursel shattering it.


It got later and later.

He only made his job harder on him when he kept running in the other direction. 11 o'clock rolled around and recently, there was a magnetism keeping him at his desk. Genuine concern in their voices only pushed him further into himself, which he knew he could only take so much of.

"You're not supposed to be here," an all too familiar voice cause him to pause from the paperwork he was scanning, not to look up but to actually break for a few seconds.

"And where should I be?" he asked, trying to keep focus. "Anywhere but here," the voice was nonchalant. "Crooks don't stop when the lights go out." "That's all I have to do to get you out of here? Rob a corner store?"

The voice was trying to cheer him up but he knew he'd give into just about anything if he looked up. He needed to be here. Here. Away from home. The furthest place he could be. He kept hearing _'Home is where the hatred is…home is filled with pain and it might not be such a bad idea, if I never…never went home again'_. He was trying not to think about it, but it was all he could think about. Going home. He was barley there as it was. And that, in a way, felt good to him.

It got later and later.

She didn't know what to feel, even when he was there. She knew he was avoiding being here but couldn't come to bring herself to address it. She felt guiltier than he did. It was weird; practically living together and he wasn't even there. She felt as though he'd left, sleeping in his shirt to bring back memories.

His scent drove her to missing him even more and without realizing it, she'd found herself starting to question whether those arms around her at night where really there or not.

They were.

But he wasn't. With his sister in the adjacent room, she found herself slightly with company, but the conversation seemed to dissipate over time.

It got later and later.

They barley spoke. Text messages seemed to always prolong events as if the powers that be seemed to have broken their calendar. He never wanted to see her cry. And he never did. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.

"It's 36 degrees," the voice broke into his thoughts again. "It's New York." "Why are you _here_?" the voice paused before asking. "Because I can be," he looked up," _you_ don't work here." "City Hall," she shrugged," close enough." He sighed, grabbing the back of neck and leaning back. "How is she?" the woman asked. He froze his expression and sat forward; this was the first time somebody asked about _her_. Everyone else seemed to ask about him.

He had no answer. "Okay." "_Okay?_" she asked, disbelief all over her voice," how do you ever have a successful UC?"

It got later and later.

The only thing that separated the two men were blood and out of concern, his best friend called his girlfriend. "It's late," she answered, looking at the clock. "It's not like you have anyone keeping you up," the words flew out of the best man's mouth before he could stop them. He was sure she'd hung up. "It's late," she repeated, fatigue plagued her voice.

"Yeah and I bet money he hasn't made it home yet." "I don't feel like losing money." "He's my best friend and I don't know what the hell is going on." "It scares you," she spoke his thought. "Uh yeah," he said nervously," How'd you know?" "Because it scares the shit outta me too."

It got later and later.

"So we've established you don't want to be home-" "I have a lot of work to do-" "You have a team, Lt. And a damn good one at that. They've noticed," she sat on his desk," so have a lot of people." "Not everyone," he mumbled, his mind drifting into nowhere.

It got later and later.

"I know this may be weird since he's my best friend and all, but…what's going on? He's starting to get people to doubt him." "He's a good cop." "No doubt, but I can't help him if I don't know what's wrong." "You can't help him with this." "Is he in some type of trouble?" "No," she sighed. "I wouldn't come to you if I didn't care." "I…" she faltered," I can't do this over the phone." "I can be over there in-" She let out of relief with a few tears," I gotta get out of this apartment." "Okay. Where?" he asked.

It got later and later.

"You know, it's a bit chilly in here-" "What do you want?" he cut her off, letting out a harsh sigh. "Touchy touchy," she smiled," You need a break." "You're right. Bye," he waved. "While we're out, we'll look for your sense of humor, too," she chuckled. "We who?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You and me." "Stop it, Erica," he closed his eyes, leaning back once again. "For Starbucks 'cause it's cold. Sheesh – you cat like I want you." "Goodbye, Erica." "Ty, it's cold. I need something to drink." "Vending machine 10 feet to your left." "Vending machine doesn't have a grande mocha frappachino now does it?' she raised an eyebrow," Just think of it this way; if you go, you'll actually beat Batman home for once."

It got later and later.

The adjacent room to their shared bedroom, which was usually occupied by his younger sister, was empty. She didn't have to half tell the truth about why she was going for coffee at 12 anyway. She was only going to finally talk to someone who was just as scared as she was, if not a few notches down. Time seemed to stop for her, but every second passed made her chest tight. She wondered what she was most afraid of; the end result or him not coming home at all.

It got later and later.

"You don't need caffeine anyway," Ty said, grabbing his jacket," especially not at this time." "Reliving memories?" she asked in a sultry voice. He ignored her and tried to push her subtleties he'd grown accustomed and attracted to out of his head. Even before he's decided to push himself away from his own apartment, he'd been with Erica in a way he wasn't with his girlfriend. And the fact that that was easy to him scared him shitless.

"You gettin' anything?" she asked as they walked out, oblivious to the eyes noticing their closeness. " My ass home," he ducked out, taking out his keys. "I thought we were going for coffee," she stopped. "We are," he sighed," and don't, do that." "Do what?" "Throw a 'I Can't Have Sugar Cereal' fit in the front of my precinct." "Shut up and drive, Rihanna," she crossed to the passenger side. Her perfume was so familiar to him, he hadn't even realized her scent lingered after she left a room.

It got later and later.

"Out of all the gin joints…" his best friend said as he saw Sasha approaching from the sidewalk," You look good, girl." "And you haven't dropped your bourbon charm," she smiled slowly, walking ahead of him into the Starbucks. In a way, this was his pre-intervention. "You gettin' anything?" he asked, walking up to the counter. He saw her shake her head sadly as she grabbed a table. He sighed, silently preparing himself for the next chess move.

He couldn't have feelings for his best friend's girlfriend unless they added up to respect and happiness. And they did. This was one relationship that he was determined to see that Ty didn't majorly destroy; despite him thinking he was the only one who knew about his sideline time with pro-bono lawyer, Erica West. He sat back down a few minutes later and could tell she'd been collecting her thoughts. "So you ready to tell me why he's 3 screw ups away from turning into his father?"

It got later and later.

"You look like a Pike Pace Roast," Erica said after a minute of two of silence, not counting the music in the background. "A what?" he turned to look at her. "It's a coffee." "Stop trying to lead up to a joke about sugar in my coffee." "You forgot, I _know_ you have nothing to worry about there." "Yeah…stop bringing that up." "It happened." "And for the sake of my sanity, I'm trying to forget." "Are you in all in tune to a woman's emotions after you speak?"

"You have none," he kept his eyes forward. "Touché," she shrugged, looking out the window," Thank you." "Don't thank me yet. You're taking a cab back." "Of all the kings horses…"

It got later and later.

He wanted her to continue, but he didn't want to push the tears forming in her eyes over the brink. "…and we were basically told our chances of conception were slim to none. I mean," she took a deep breath," I probably won't even carry to term." He was hurt as if he'd just been struck by lightning. "A-And I want to blame myself, and I do because-" "If you would've done things differently?" he finished her sentence," Sasha, look at me. If you'd have done things different, you probably wouldn't be together today."

"Even when he said he was at work," she closed her eyes, the next part of the sentence faltering," I know, Taye." "Know what?" he asked. "About what used to keep him out before he sat at his desk last night. That was it. He didn't want to prod further into that, but wanted to talk about how to move forward, but could tell she was hurting. "It'll be okay," he covered her hand with his," I promise. We love him too much to watch him fall apart." She nodded deafly, happy with the affirmation that she'd have help on finding her way back to the yellow brick road.

It got later and later.

"You're buying right?" she asked as they approached the door. "I always knew it was a moment before you'd go crazy," he gave a slight smile. "Perfect gentleman." "Ha…for a second there, I thought you meant me." They'd both laughed at that; his first real smile in a while and he let the small ray of sunshine last him for a few seconds, and those few seconds happened to be as they were walking in.

It got later and later.

After reassuring her, Tavon squinted, making sure he was seeing right. "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing his expression. Before he could answer, she turned around, only to see Ty and Erica walking through the door. Suddenly, all the bricks went cold.

It got late.

Nobody knew what to say in the small coffee shop that kept going as if they were in a rift all their own. "What're you doing?" Tavon was the first to ask his best friend. "Oh boy," Erica sighed, sliding to the side," I can promise it's not what it looks like." "Now it is," Tavon said, narrowing his eyes from her to him, repeating his question. But the silence between man and woman spoke volumes as his eyes pleaded with a mixture of surprise, sorrow, and above all, fear.

"Baby," Ty choked out," I promise-" "It's not about promises anymore," she rose to leave," it's not about us." "Sasha, wait!" he called after her as she left, turning back to Tavon," What were y'all doing here?" "Coming up with a plan to save you. She was just a bonus," he nodded to Erica. "I put on my law degree all I asked for a ride (pause) to the coffee shop and to get him out of the house." "I frankly don't care," he shrugged," but she does." Ty was already on bouncing down the street to follow her as she was determined to keep pace.

"Sasha, wait-" "For what, Ty?!" she turned around, tearing drying rapidly in the cold November wind. "I'm done. Atleast it's easier because we're both as far away from each other as possible-" "She goaded me out of the house. She was just being a friend-" "Yeah a friend you used to fuck," she threw in," And up until recently, might I add." He was stunned, but rather not know how she knew. "I'm giving you my word-" "Your word?" she laughed bitterly, her voice in sync with the biting winter around them.

"You've barley said a word to me in 2 months, so how the hell would I know to trust it?" "Look baby calm down – I know that looked…Ben Wallace outta bounds but you've got to believe me-" "I believe I can't get you home and she can get you out for coffee." "After what we went though, you think I'd cheat on you?" "You did it _before _we found out we couldn't have children." "High chance." "What?" "High possibility, not impossible."

"Look, even before that, and I still believe, that I was inadequate to you. I couldn't be there for you the way I was supposed to be, so I shied away when I should've stepped up. My fault. I take 300% for that but you've got to believe the only thing that's been driving me to you is the same thing that's driving me away from you – fear. I want to be there, but I didn't know how and…I backed away. But I haven't stepped out since then."

"Want a cookie? Gold star?" she asked. "I'm trying to be serious," he stepped closer to her. "I don't think you understand how hard this is for me; I can't give you the one gift you can a person and to make it worse, you're not there when I need you." "I'm here now," he got nervous," grabbing her fingertips. "One mistake too late," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks," I'm sorry."

He couldn't say anything. She walked to the end of the block to her Expedition before giving him a tearful glance and driving away. He was truly heartbroken. There was tons more that needed to be said, but in the hast of time and embarrassment, he figured she's ended it early before she looked like he did at this exact moment.

He hadn't even realized her was crying until he felt something poke at his chest. Mad as hell, his best friend stood there…with a few napkins. "She's gone," Ty said after a few pregnant moments of silence," I can't, live without her and just like that, she's gone."

Tavon bit his lip and sighed, looking past his best friend whose tears had seemed to dry up. "Why couldn't I have one moment in time to wait to explain it?" he heard Ty ask himself.

"It got later and later," he sighed, stretching and thinking where his extra blankets and pillows were.

-meant to be a one-shot, but should I continue?


End file.
